Looking up for bees?

Protection for bees is one step closer after a proposal was brought to the European Commission to suspend the use of bee-harming chemicals on certain crops.

Beekeepers in New Zealand are really concerned about the loss of bees here, as are the big food growers including Federated Farmers because of the impact that the loss of bees (and therefore pollination of crops) will have on the production of food.

3 Comments Posted

Realistically, the science on this is dodgy, from both sides. I don’t think anyone really knows. We can probably assume that there is some effect on bee health by these neo-nicotinoids but we need to keep perspective, they aren’t going to wipe them out.

This is purely an economic issue, not an environmental one. Because of the varroa mite, unless you live in Southland (for now) any honey bee that you observe is from a managed hive. Because of this it becomes a straight calculation between the increased costs on the beekeeping industry by the impact that these pesticides are having on hive populations and the increased costs on the cropping and horticultural industries by not having these chemicals available. The costs tothe bee industry may be significant, but are they that significant? I’m not too sure that they are.

There are easier and less costly things we could do, particularly around ensuring suitable nector and pollen sources available.